Bucky Is The Star RB From 2024 Draft
November 8th, 2026
Best in class.
This is for the Jason Licht haters.
Joe sees all sorts of comments on this here corner of the interwebs. Man, some people are so mental about the Bucs’ AC/DC-loving general manager, it appears they’d like to drag him behind a pickup down Dale Mabry Highway.
Why?
Joe will play along. Let’s say Team Glazer runs off Jason Licht, for whatever reason. What would they then do? They’d likely look for a guy who has built a Super Bowl winner, right?
Well, they already have one in the building! So why on earth would you want to run the guy off? LOL
Licht’s drafts of mid-round picks have been excellent the past three years. Let’s look back.
2024
Tykee Smith
Jalen McMillan
Bucky Irving
2025
Jacob Parrish
David Walker
Elijah Roberts
2026
Ted Hurst
Keionte Scott
DeMonte Capehart
That’s five starters, maybe seven (Hurst and Walker?) in nine selections — with the middle picks. That’s an incredible batting average.
Anyway, earlier this week Bucs radio play-by-play man Tony Castricone twittered some interesting intel. It seems Bucky Irving has turned out to be the best running back selected in the 2024 draft.
Why that no good @#$%^&* Jason Licht!
But this post is to celebrate Bucky. That’s awesome that a dude his size turns out to be the best running back selected in 2024. And wearing pewter and red!
Bucky is a huge reason why the Bucs are very much in the hunt for an NFC South landfill title and a home playoff game.
The five guys taken ahead of Bucky Irving have combined for:
611 rushes
2,587 rushing yards
4.23 yards per carry
14 rushing TDsIncredible work by Bucky, incredible pick by GM Jason Licht and incredible development by the coaches. https://t.co/IbHcIAg3VL pic.twitter.com/Qhyq4sxYpV
— Tony Castricone (@Castricone) November 6, 2026
This is always a safe space for Bucky Irving propaganda @BenjaminSolak pic.twitter.com/5Giyip6WKD
— Mina Kimes (@minakimes) November 4, 2026
November 8th, 2026 at 5:50 am
JL is a decent NFL GM.
Joe is right – his 3rd and 4th round picks have been solid.
However his 1st and 2nd round picks have been mediocre at best…
I believe he made a huge mistake signing Baker Mayfield to that ridiculous deal before the season especially when Baker was going to play regardless and think about the discount the Bucs could have received if they would have been a little smarter and waited until now to negotiate.
Oh well.
Go Bucs!
November 8th, 2026 at 6:48 am
Lower draft picks by Licht & Co have been excellent. The team seems to dodo the bed in the second round and is mediocre in the bottom half of the first. Bucs rarely get a star/impact player there. They draft solid/good players, just rarely great.
November 8th, 2026 at 6:48 am
Lower draft picks by Licht & Co have been excellent. The team seems to dodo the bed in the second round and is mediocre in the bottom half of the first. Bucs rarely get a star/impact player there. They draft solid/good players, just rarely great.
November 8th, 2026 at 7:06 am
Tantrum HATERS. lol
Super Bowl baby!!!!!!
November 8th, 2026 at 7:57 am
JL did pick the best RB from that 2024 class. Only thing Bucky really lacks is that elite top “long” speed like Gibbs or BRobinson have. He’s plenty fast enough though, and his change of direction cuts and shiftiness are elite IMO. Excellent value for where he was picked in the draft.
November 8th, 2026 at 8:06 am
I got to admit I wanted Braelon Allen from Wisconsin. Licht was right. Still think with his size he would be a great short yardage back.
November 8th, 2026 at 8:39 am
I sat next to Bucky’s family at the home opener in 2024. They were so happy for him that day. And they loved hearing the crowd cheer for him. It was special.
Bucky was someone that Coen really wanted in the backfield. His intel was spot on. He has a great eye for talent and the ability to bring the best out of them.
Bud Licht does hit on a few of his gambles. But his failures are quite glaring.
Aguayo and Winston being two of the worst. Those two alone set the franchise back for an extended period of time.
Plus, his constructed roster is 5-12 in the last 17 games. No playoffs since 2024 and that was a home loss in round one.
What exactly are we celebrating?? Oh right, Brady’s SB title. Many were made to look smart by the GOAT.
November 8th, 2026 at 9:02 am
Joe is entirely too nice in judging GMs for their record of drafting starters in mid-rounds. Top-end teams have to have (1) a core of elite players and (2) a group of talent performing at their best. The first part is acquiring talent, the second is coaching it up. Licht has been substandard in acquiring talent. The Bucs haven’t hit on any superstars by trade or through free agency (McLaughlin is a special case and dealt with below; Baker has been a mid-level performer and certainly has not shown out as a QB superstar).
After the Brady era the Bucs had limited elite talent. Their best players have been (1) Lavonte David (Rd 2/#58 in 2012); (2) Mike Evans (Rd 1/#7 in 2014); (3) Vita Vea (Rd 1/#12 2018); (4) Tristan Wirfs (Rd 1/13 2020); (5) Antoine Winfield, Jr.??? (Rd 2/45 2020); (6) Chase McLaughlin (UFA 2019 signed here 2023); (7) Bucky Irving (Rd 4/125 2024).
Notice that 2 out of 7 aren’t here anymore (not only has David retired but he was drafted by a previous GM; as for Evans . . . you know). Two more have been inconsistent: Winfield and yes, Bucky. And while kicking is important it’s not a premier position. So the Bucs core of elite talent in the Licht era is shallow.
We can hope that this draft class outperforms all prior ones. And we can hope that Graham Barton (Rd 1/26 2024), Jacob Parrish (Rd 3/84 2025), and Egmeka Egbuka (Rd 1/19 2025) turn in to superstars. But Joe knows that’s a sin against hope.
The other part of top-end teams is coaching up the talent. The GM has a part in that process too and it’s obvious that the Bucs haven’t had top-tier coaching since Arians left. Time management has been a particular embarrassment. Over the past five years the players have not outperformed their expected results. Again we hope they will, that the team has turned a corner. But again Joe would counsel us to not rely on hope.
In short, the man the myth the legend of Licht the Superstar GM doesn’t hold up on closer scrutiny. Yes, it could be worse. Yes, he has found some mid-round starters. Yes, he has the Arians scalp and a Brady ring. But the record shows why he’s not mentioned as near the top of the heap. And it shows why the Bucs have a low ceiling: their talent level lets them fight to get into the playoffs but doesn’t allow them much chance to win the playoffs.
November 8th, 2026 at 9:04 am
Licht finally hit on a solid second round pick this year – Trotter. That’s usually his really bad pick.
Folks here don’t seem to understand that RBs like Gibbs and Bijan aren’t typically available in bottom 1/3 of the first round. Once you get past the first half dozen or so picks, there aren’t any “elite” players left – at least on paper. You’re basically just picking a high second rounder at that point.
I’m surprised that nobody mentioned Licht’s “failure” with his first round pick of Bain this season. You know, likely the same people who were saying it was the greatest pick EVER at the time it happened (you’d find very few pundits who thought Bain wasn’t a steal at #15).
November 8th, 2026 at 10:05 am
Yeah, anyone that would want to do that to Jason would have to get through me first. Guess Im flying to Tampa asap from GSP if something like that was going down. Trust me, life in prison is not much of a deterrent at my age.
November 8th, 2026 at 10:35 am
Yeah low hanging fruit eaters would say Licht is so good because of his mid round picks but ignore all the King Lebron flops thru the 3 first rounds. Sure they save the Bucs money up front but if they out perform their draft status and earn a second contract what’s the first thing happens when they get that new found loot????? Today so called great play runs out the door!
One can claim that he’s not the one coaching them but he’s the one who has extended Bowles who should’ve been let go after the 2024 season with that offense we had was at the least NFC Championship Game ready, it was Bowles and his defense that killed everything for us. Bowles is the real reason our team never gets better. None of our players drafted ever seen too get any better and it’s Licht’s fault because he extended Bowles
November 8th, 2026 at 10:37 am
OH GOSH ALL THESE POP UP ADS ARE SO IRRITATING AND DEBILITATING!!!!!!!! ARE THERE NOT ENOUGH IN THE SIDE BARS????